Car of the Week: Hyundai Elantra

Bangalore: Car maker Hyundai Motor launched its new fifth generation sedan Elantra at a price ranging between 12.99 lakh and 16.46 lakh, as it looks to revive presence in the executive car segment in the domestic market.

The company which had earlier planned to set up a diesel engine manufacturing plant at its Chennai facility said it has delayed the project due to lack of clarity of government policy on fixing of diesel and petrol prices and thus launched it on 13th of August in India.

“The new Elantra was launched in the U.S. in 2011 and it has received overwhelming response worldwide. We are confident that in India also this will be a success,” Hyundai Motor India, Managing Director and CEO, B. S. Seo told PTI.

Performance

The petrol engine produces 150 bhp while the diesel engine, shared with the Verna, churns out 126 bhp. Both engines are mated to six speed automatic or manual gear transmission.

The Elantra was first launched in India in 2004 but was discontinued in 2007 apparently due to poor demand. However, the company is confident that the sedan's second innings would be a success.

"It is a global car and has been packaged intelligently. It has won laurels around the world and we are confident that it will perform well here," Nalin Kapoor, HMIL Senior General Manager, told IANS.

Hyundai knows how important performance for a car is and so its engineers took a extra care to build a high performance engine. Its engine consists of 4 cylinders and is available in two different engine configurations that is - a 2.0 litre Turbo Intercooled CRDi engine and a 1.8 litre DOHC 16 Valve Beta engine.

The petrol engine has multi point fuel injection and a state of the art microprocessor also comes along with it. This microprocessor is applied for fuel delivery which makes the car more fuel efficient and thus more eco friendly.